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Natives say the grizzly was “skinned and left to rot in a field."

Coastal First Nations are upset with the killing in the spring bear hunt of a large male grizzly in the Kwatna estuary on the central coast, an area they have declared off-limits to trophy hunting. Clayton Stoner, who hails from Port McNeill and is a defenceman with the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League, is shown holding up the severed head of the grizzly.

A National Hockey League player who hails from Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island is embroiled in a controversy over the shooting of a grizzly bear in an area of the B.C. coast that aboriginals have declared off-limits to trophy hunting.

Clayton Stoner, a defenceman with the Minnesota Wild, issued a statement Tuesday after The Vancouver Sun obtained photos of him with the severed head and a paw of the grizzly he shot last spring in the Kwatna estuary, midway between Bella Coola and Bella Bella.

“I grew up hunting and fishing in British Columbia and continue to enjoy spending time with my family outdoors,” said Stoner, 28. “I applied for and received a grizzly bear hunting licence through a British Columbia limited-entry lottery last winter and shot a grizzly bear with my licence while hunting with my father, uncle and a friend in May.

“I love to hunt and fish and will continue to do so with my family and friends in British Columbia.”

The group, Coastal First Nations, is holding a news conference on Wednesday in Vancouver to release a film on trophy hunting, including the killing of the five-year-old male grizzly nicknamed Cheeky.

Natives say in a news release that the grizzly was “skinned and left to rot in a field. His head and paws were carried out past a sign declaring trophy hunting closed in the Great Bear Rainforest.”

Two native technicians conducting grizzly work on the estuary that day took the photographs of Stoner shortly after the shooting.

Jessie Housty, a councillor with the Heiltsuk First Nation, one of several native groups that make up Coastal First Nations, noted the film is meant to draw attention to the culture of trophy hunting in B.C. and won’t identify or seek to vilify individual hunters.

“We don’t want to distract from the message,” she said.

Stoner had 10 assists and 42 penalty minutes in 48 games during last year’s abbreviated season. He was drafted 79th overall in the third round in 2004.

In September 2012, Coastal First Nations declared a “ban on the trophy bear hunt” in traditional native territories, saying they would “protect bears from cruel and unsustainable trophy hunts by any and all means.”

But the provincial government, which regulates hunting, does not recognize the First Nations ban.

Scott Ellis, executive director of the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C., said it is “business as usual” despite the declaration and that “it is not the First Nations’ jurisdiction.”

About 58 per cent of the traditional territories of Coastal First Nations are closed to grizzly hunting, according to the provincial government. In 2009, Victoria created three new grizzly bear management areas in the Great Bear Rainforest totalling 1.16 million hectares, 470,000 hectares of which were previously open for hunting.

The province estimates there are 120,000 to 160,000 black bears and 15,000 grizzlies in B.C. While grizzlies are a species of special concern, there are no conservation concerns for black bears.

In 2012, non-residents killed 1,141 back bears and 69 grizzlies in B.C., while residents killed 2,767 black bears and 181 grizzlies. Non-resident hunters must be guided under B.C. law.

Similar clashes over bear management are taking place all along the B.C. coast.

Closer to Metro Vancouver, Dan Gerak, owner of Pitt River Lodge, a fly-fishing and ecotourism operation, says he is the victim of provincial policy that allows black bear hunting with few restrictions.

“Our guests look at the Pitt as being a wilderness area,” Gerak said. “It seems like there is nobody monitoring how many bears are being shot.”

For the first time in 25 years he’s been in the area, no bears are being observed at salmon spawning channels. “Not even scat on the road,” Gerak said.

Over the past three years, the clients of Big Boar Outfitters have officially killed 43 blacks bears in Management Unit 2-8, an area that includes the upper Pitt but also extends to Squamish and the Stave River Valley. Gerak estimated resident hunters also take about 10 bears per year in the upper Pitt, not including any bears that might have died after being injured.

Big Boar’s Abe Dougan said less than half of those 43 bears were killed in the upper Pitt. “There’s lots of bears in the Pitt River,” he said. “Our harvest is all mature males. We don’t just shoot a bunch of bears.”

In the upper Pitt, Gerak would like to see a no-hunting corridor for 25 kilometres along the valley bottom to encourage tourism and bear appreciation and to ensure public safety, noting there is plenty of room to hunt on logging roads higher up the mountains.

Provincial wildlife laws allow the outfitter to take as many clients as he wants into the valley and kill up to two bears each.

Gerak also noted that about five years ago a resident showed up on a jet boat, got out and killed a black bear with a bow and arrow on Corbold Creek while it was feeding on salmon and while his horrified clients watched nearby.

The province asserts that black bear hunting in the area is well within sustainable numbers, and encourages hunters to be mindful of where they choose to hunt, particularly when in the presence of other users of Crown land.

Coastal First Nations are upset with the killing in the spring bear hunt of a large male grizzly in the Kwatna estuary on the central coast, an area they have declared off-limits to trophy hunting. Clayton Stoner, who hails from Port McNeill and is a defenceman with the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League, is shown holding up the severed head of the grizzly.

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